#really liked this scene in the show so i wanted to animate mt own version <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[jaxieus]

Go Cosmo!!✨

[secret-engima]

*kicks down door* WHO WANTS TO READ ME RAMBLE/RANT ABOUT THE GRALEA LEVEL IN FFXV AND WHY IT ACTUALLY WAS A GOOD LEVEL AND EVERYONE SHOULD PLAY THE NOCTIS ROUTE AT LEAST ONCE RATHER THAN THE GLADIO ROUTE EVEN THOUGH IT’S TERRIFYING AND FRUSTRATING.

No one?

WELL TOO BAD.

(Unless you haven’t played or watched the game yet and don’t want spoilers in which case TURN AWAY NOW).

...Ahem. *deep breath* Okay so I will forever stand by my opinion that chapter 13 of the game (the one that takes place on the train and then in Gralea) is Good™ and does exactly what it's supposed to in the narrative. That is not to say I don't hate it with a passion and didn't cheer when they added the Gladiolus route for those of us (like me) who didn't want to replay the Noctis route again, but I will stubbornly insist to anyone that wants to listen that the chapter's difficulty and wildly different tone and pacing was THE POINT of the darn thing and deserves some respect for it.

See, the game up to that point is, if not always lighthearted (because it's not), has still been something of an Adventure Story™. Yes there's horrible tragic things like Insomnia falling and Regis dying, but for the most part the gameplay is exploration and cool combat mechanics and the relationship between the four brothers. It's ... happy for a good chunk of it. There's this light at the end of the tunnel, this comfy assurance that there can be a happy ending, that this can all be fixed and tied up in a neat little bow somehow.

Then Altissia happens. Luna dies, Ignis is blinded, and the game puts you on literal rails, forcing you to go hurtling toward A Different Tone. Everyone is stressed, everyone is scared or angry. You’d THINK that this is the lowest point of the story and that surely there’s going to be an emotional reconciliation between Noctis and Gladio and then we’ll get back to exploring and saving the world and all that jazz.

Except we don’t.

The train scene with Ardyn and Shiva happens, and the entire heartbreak with Prompto happens, and that’s when things start to seriously crack. You lose all access to your magic while stuck in this narrow train, then you lose the Regalia, your symbol of freedom, your main way to travel through the game (even when you fast travel, the animation of arrival shows you getting out of the Regalia). You are now trapped in Gralea. In dark, hostile territory with one of your party missing, one of them blind, the other angry at you, and still no magic. Then a few minutes later you are forcibly separated from the rest of your party, the characters you’ve spent all game getting attached to, and leaning on, and laughing with. They are your last anchor points to the brother dynamic that has kept the whole game on a lighter note and now they are GONE. You have none of your weapons or skills, you have no idea where the others are (first time playing the game without spoilers anyway), you have NOTHING. No hope. No backup. No distractions from the fact that, oh yeah, this is a story where the Bad. Guys. Win. Are winning, have won, and all Noctis (all you) can do is take out the Ring that slowly killed Regis, that Luna died for, the thing that represents everything going wrong and all NOCTIS must do to fix it even when he is painfully, woefully unprepared ... and finally put it on. 

Noctis (and by extension you, the player) MUST shoulder the responsibility of being the king of a lost kingdom, of acknowledging that he IS the king, his dad was MURDERED, and Luna was killed for the thing you are now wearing and everything it means. It’s your only option until you eventually find the dead Ravus and take back Regis’s sword toward the middle/end of the level, which you can’t use recklessly because every swing drains your very life-force, forcing the Ring to still be your “best” option in many cases.

Most of that level is spent running, and hiding, and praying that the MT Units on the floor don’t leap up and try to murder you, or that the daemons don’t notice you, or that the teleporting daemon doesn’t find you, or that Ardyn will just SHUT UP because his taunts are really unhelpful right now.

The only hope you have left in this level is to grit your teeth and get through it with the Ring until you can reunite with your brothers and get magic back and go get the Crystal, the mcguffin of this whole game, and put the game back on the normal track of brotherly dynamics and fun quests. Just get to the Crystal, and everything will somehow start going back to normal.

And then that turns out to be a trap too.

Welcome to the final act of a tragedy, and your character is the one living through it. There will be no restoration of the norm until you’ve seen this to its final conclusion. There will be no light save for the one Noctis dies for.

Even when I first played that level (vanilla, not even a day one patch version btw because I was an idiot like that) and hated it because it was terrifying, I never thought it didn't belong in the story like ... quite a few comments I saw on the internet later insisted it didn’t. This is Noctis's story. This is Noctis's tragedy. THIS is the level that strips every last distraction and security blanket and shelter away from him and makes him put on the Ring and thus shoulder everything it represents. There is- terror here, there is trauma, there is GRIEF. This is practically Noctis's headspace without his brothers, because let's not forget that while we the players are having fun fishing and catching frogs for a silly scientist lady, Noctis is a refugee from an empire that MURDERED HIS FATHER and the FATHER OF HIS SHIELD-BROTHER, destroyed his HOME and then, right before Gralea, murdered Luna, the girl who he's known and talked to and confided in via letter for twelve years. This is a world falling into literal darkness (and if the player hadn’t noticed how the daytime cycle in the game kept getting shorter and shorter before this point YOU CERTAINLY NOTICE NOW) and it's up to Noctis- JUST Noctis, ONLY NOCTIS thanks to a Prophecy made long before he was ever born, to somehow Fix It™.

One person. Just one.

And he has to fix ... all of this.

How?

He doesn’t know. During the Gralea level he DOESN’T KNOW. All he (all we) know is that the Crystal is the key, but since the Crystal only answers to Lucis Caelums, that means Noctis is the key, and Noctis (and you the player) is painfully aware of how Not Ready he is.

And the weight of that is enough to render you helpless in the face of it. The fear of that is a maze. The terror of it is a monster following you down the halls that you cannot escape from and cannot kill while it laughs at your misery.

All of that is GRALEA. The capital city of the people who overthrew his home, killed his father, killed his fiancé, and isolated him from the last safety nets he had.

The entirety of chapter 13 isn’t meant to be enjoyed. It’s meant to make you scared. It’s meant to frustrate you and make you feel helpless. It’s meant to make you feel sick when you learn what the daemons and MTs you’ve been killing really are. It’s meant to make you RAGE against Ardyn, and the Empire, and this entire situation because you’re one person and you’re not prepared for this and it’s NOT FAIR and you just want things to go BACK TO THE WAY IT WAS AND ALL OF THIS SUCKS.

Yeah. It does.

And who else do you think feels like that?

Noctis.

Chapter 13 isn’t meant to be fun. It’s meant to make you feel like Noctis does.

And what emotions would you expect from someone who has just lost everything and is expected to fix everything for everyone else, and now has no distractions or shields between him and his grief?

I remember reading an article about “why this chapter failed” and it was basically to the order of “this game is about a fun road trip with your bros and reuniting with your fiancé and chapter 13 breaks away from that too hard” and I respectfully have to disagree.

This story isn’t about a “fun road trip” and it isn’t just about “reuniting with your fiancé”. From the very first cutscene we are told that it’s not in Regis’s desperate (and soon revealed as last) words to his son about setting forth on a journey and not being able to go back. We are told it’s not in the first hour or so when Insomnia burns and Noctis cries and Cor tells us that “in his last moments together he didn’t want to be your king, he wanted to be your father”. How is that a “fun story about a road trip?”. Yes the road trip IS fun for us, and it IS about the brother relationship, but in a large, LARGE part-

Final Fantasy XV is about a young man setting out into the world and facing the hardships of it. It’s about loss. It’s about regrets. It’s about how no matter how much you want them to, some things can never go back to the way they were yet you must keep going anyway. It’s about how the darkness of the world will just keep taking-taking-taking until someone is willing to pay the price to make it stop, and that sometimes a happy ending for the people you love most means giving up your own personal happy ending on their behalf.

Final Fantasy XV never really hid the fact that it was a tragic, bittersweet story.

But it’s in chapter 13 that the story refuses to let you mistake it for anything else any longer.

Could the chapter have been structured a little better so that the gameplay itself wasn’t so frustrating? Probably. I know almost nothing about game design so that’s not really my call. But does the chapter, for all its frustration and anger-inducing inversion of pacing and tone, brutally get the point across?

Maybe it’s just my opinion, but I’d say yes. Yes it does. Because this video game was the one that fully 100% convinced me, in a way that no other video game had before, that the platform could tell heart wrenching stories, could give me characters I would care for, cry over, rage on the behalf of.

And a big part of that clicked for me at the ending, but it likely wouldn’t have if I hadn’t first struggled my way through chapter 13 and all the emotions it causes and represents just like Noctis did.

...

There. I’m done. Thanks for reading my long-suppressed rant on the most hated chapter of FFXV.

[adrianalvas]

Podcast 188: Figure Section [aufnahme + wiedergabe] [ +Interview]

Figure Section arose from the meeting of Austrian-French musician and actress Olivia Carrère - aka Olive - and Belgian artist and producer Yannick Franck (RAUM, Orphan Swords, Mt Gemini), who first crossed paths on a theatre stage in Brussels.

Although founded on an acknowledgement of these styles, their execution is experimental, idiosyncratic and entirely modern in spirit, guided by an intent to revise their influences and an approach shaped by romanticism and a surreal, Dadaistic sense of humour. The recurrent themes of the project address friendship, love, loss, existential angst, survival, irony, degeneration, queer culture, non-conformity and ‘the expiation of tensions through modern day rituals’.

The duo’s first single ‘Teutonic Knights’ was hailed by The Brvtalist as an illustration of ”infectious wave [music] with an eerie atmosphere and frigid vocals”, a track that subsequently generated widespread acclaim. In October their debut EP was released on the cult Berlin based label run by Phillip Strobel, aufnahme + wiedergabe.

TF: What motivates you to create Figure Section?

O: My collaboration with Yannick is an intersection between a strong friendship and similar interests and tastes in music. What’s more, the collaboration between us is really complementary in the creative process and allows us to explore new musical playgrounds which neither of us would probably reach if we were working separately.

Y: There are certain musical realms I wanted to explore for a long time whilst doing very different projects (Orphan Swords, RAUM, Y.E.R.M.O.), and since we met and started to experiment together, we dreamed of having a proper duo. It took time but here we are, I am very glad the project exists and I couldn’t dream of a better companion to do it with.

TF: Tell us something about you. What’s your background? Where did you studied and who influenced you to explore musical processes?

O: My background is rather diverse, and it took me a long time to discover how intimate I was with music as a listener, but also as a composer. I come from a theatrical background. I trained as an actress, though I started my studies with a degree in communication – specifically in socio-cultural animation - knowing that I would change path after obtaining it. It’s quite funny to see how tortuous life can be before finding your way through and beyond all these experiences. When I started as an actress ten years ago, something was missing in my professional contribution. I was desperately looking for some creative language that I could develop on my own. I was already familiar with singing since my childhood, so I started learning the basics of music theory online, and quickly I realized that I wanted to compose songs, and to find the easiest way of recording them without any external help. I got my hands on a keyboard and software and started composing, singing and producing at home. It was more a secret process for a few years, until I created a solo piece in the National Theatre of Belgium, which involved performing some of my compositions. This was a fundamental step where I learned that, with the music, I could be really free in the writing and performing process.

Y: I studied painting, but it quickly became clear that music was a territory worth exploring and one that I had to invest my time and energy into. Since I was pretty disgusted by the blatant materialism and the general mindset of the art world; the galleries, and a lot of the attitudes adopted by other artists (competitiveness, individualism, tendency to follow an art world, scale version of the Star System), I found there would be more freedom making music. People attend a concert to have an experience. Anyhow I love art, all sorts of art and my friends are usually creative people. Also, there have never been any boundaries for me, you can build sonic sculptures or paint rhythms, you can conceive a concert as a performance, you can do whatever you want. I recently moderated a panel at BOZAR about the underground art scene in New York in the 80’s, in East Village in particular. I had the pleasure of interviewing Dany Johnson (she was a resident DJ at Club 57 and later at Paradise Garage), Leonard Abrams (he ran the fabulous magazine The East Village Eye) and Gil Vasquez (DJ and president of the Keith Haring Foundation) and what struck me was the fact that at that particular moment in that scene you had zero boundaries between visual art, music, dance, performance… Klaus Nomi shared the bill with Ann Magnuson and John Sex and Haring curated shows and painted almost 24/7 while listening to music. It was all about energy. It’s academicism and speculation (art as a luxury product) that kills such energies (and eventually did in that case) Two different problems, both normative and alien to any creative essence. I stumbled upon a Serge Daney quote lately: ‘Academicism is the aesthetics of nihilism.’ And I agree with that, once you “do things because that’s the way they’re done”, reproduce them in blind fidelity and separate, classify, and annihilate boundary breaking forces, you start producing numb, meaningless objects. In this case a painting has to go from a gallery to a living room or a collection where it belongs. Is it a nice base material for speculation or a good way to seem educated and exhibit your taste as a buyer, to impress others? Hell no…a painting is rather an expression of life itself, a celebration, an exhibition of the worlds revolting features, its horrors, its injustice, its sadness, qualities and themes such as these…in every case it is an essential, vital gesture. Otherwise why even take a look at it? Music should be just the same.

TF: Do you spend all your time for your musical activity or do you have another job?

O: Yes, I do now. The musical activity has taken the vast majority of my time even though I’m still performing as a theatre actress, but that part of my professional activity is becoming more and more scarce. I’ve been recently offered to create music for theatre. So, my work today is divided between Figure Section, and other emerging projects for which I compose and produce for other artists, and my work as a music composer for the theatre. Maybe one day I will come back to the stage with a performance in which I’ll be the actress as well as the musician. I do keep an eye on that prospect even though it’s not the priority for the moment.

Y: I teach sound in cinema. We analyze movies and their soundtracks most of the time. It is a very interesting way to make a living next to music making.

TF: How is your live set up going to be? Any particular equipment? What’s your favourite track to play live and why?

O: We are working on the simplest and most efficient way of touring. So, our set is based on live keyboard playing, voice mixing, and equalizing the tracks live. So, there’s no particular equipment at the moment.

Spectral Dance, is one of my favourites to play live. It’s a more nostalgic synthpop song that offers a vast sense of space for the vocals and the keyboard parts. I just love its simplicity, almost naïveté, contrasted by lyrics about pernicious ghosts from the past that try to keep us from moving forward.

Y: There is a lot of different processes and ideas colliding and merging in Figure Section. It is always quite challenging for us to write a new song and perform it on stage. I think my favourite live song is currently Disfigured Section. We both sing on that one and I love that. Lyrics and vibe wise it’s sort of a Neo Dada track, maybe a tad surrealistic too, from apparent nonsense a lot of sense can emerge from the lyrics. Also, it is nervous, rough, noisy, kind of pissed off. At the same time desperate and full of energy. A union of opposites.

TF: What new hardwares did you apply to make 'Spectre' LP? Do you have a particular method while working in the studio?

O: There’s no new hardware utilized, but we have a more precise choice of instruments these days as well as a particular approach in the production process. Yannick and I work just as well separately as together in the studio. It just helps us to be more efficient because of our very different schedules. We both share online a musical file filled with musical ideas, loops, drums and lyrics. We are both the composers and mixers of the songs, but Yannick is more the writer and the producer and I’m more the arranger and singer. I think that we have now reached the perfect balance in the creative process, which is almost symbiotic.

Y: Yes, it is super interesting because I never know where Olive is going to take a song to when she starts working on it with her great skills and sensibility. What I know is that great stuff will eventually happen, leading to things that will stimulate us and give us even more ideas.

TF: How do you compose this tracks? Do you treat them like musical narratives or more like sound sculptures or images?

O: It really depends on the material. Sometimes Yannick comes with a very complete composition and I add the keyboard and voice arrangements, sometimes I come with a proposition and he completes it. Our strongest asset as a duo is that we started music completely differently, Yannick as an electronic experimentalist and performer, and I as a pop songwriter and singer. So, what we do is bring these assets together in our songs. I think the first track of the Spectre release is the perfect example of that symbiosis. This is what we aim for.

Y: Yes, it is a creative adventure, we have no such thing as a clearly established routine, it’s more laboratory like. It is not “experimental music” but the way it is done is not conventional either.

TF: Any movie, documentary, album (not electronic music) that you would like to share with our readers?

O: We are big fans of horror, thrillers and sci-fi. The last movie that left me fascinated as well as horrified is Midsommar by Ari Aster. I loved that movie because its director knows how to subtly inject weird elements of comedy that make you feel uncomfortable, as well as conveying an ice-cold intrigue about ancient pagan practices and rituals. Loved it.

Y: +1 for Midsommar. I loved that the movie never seems to bring any judgment about the neo-pagan community it depicts, it is just utterly different from what we know but it seems to make sense no matter how shocking it can be. It gives us a break from the ethnocentric attitude of many North Americans and from the extreme arrogance of modern western civilizations, which seem to be absolutely convinced of their superiority to any previous or different civilizations. Also, the visual effects are amazing. Der Goldener Handschuh (The Golden Glove) was quite a great movie too. Being utterly disgusted by this ugly, messy, desperate serial killer’s gruesome murders without being able to restrain myself from laughing was for sure a wild experience. And it really triggers thoughts afterwards. Moral thoughts especially. I found it pretty strong. A non-electronic album: Lux perpetua by Ensemble Organum, which is a very particular version of the Requiem by Anthonius de Divitis. It is such a beautiful requiem and such an incredible interpretation; it even features throat singing which is very unusual in the context of European polyphonic reinterpretations. 15th century art tends to focus a lot on death and mortality. And as Regis Debray said in his 1992 book The Life and Death of Images: “Where there is death there’s hope, aesthetically speaking.”

TF: What are the forthcoming projects?

O: Wrapping up our debut LP.

Y: We are also planning tours, confirmed dates are in Israel and the US so far but more will be announced later on. It would be fabulous to come play in Mexico too!

source https://www.tforgotten.org/single-post/Podcast-188-Figure-Section-aufnahme-wiedergabe-Interview

[hagarenmovie]

AX 2017: Fullmetal Alchemist Live Action Panel Transcription

The Fullmetal Alchemist World Whirlwind Tour!! First stop Los Angeles!

| Transcription of a major part of the panel that took place on July 3rd, at Anime Expo 2017 in Los Angeles. Although the panel was listed as 11am to 12pm, it only actually lasted about 35 minutes since it started late and then ended a bit early in order to clear the room. Still, a lot happened in that short time! Here’s the complete transcription! Very Long Post!! |

- NOTE: the MC is Ken Ayugai from Tokyo. Mikey’s the interpreter. I cut their self introductions and their final remarks which let the audience know that the next stop on the live action promo tour was Paris.

- ALSO we weren’t allowed to film or take pictures till after the footage was shown and they were real strict about it, but I’m sure the live action team will release pictures and some footage after their world tour ends in Japan on July 12th, so we just gotta wait like a week.

Also check out: Description of scenes in the footage

MC: So first of all, I'm sure most of you are aware of this but I'm gonna run you through the history of Fullmetal, really quick.

 Mikey: Just a little bit, so you guys, you know there might be some people who don't know Fullmetal Alchemist up here.

 MC: So first of all, Fullmetal Alchemist is a popular japanese manga, which I'm sure you know, and it's written by Hiromu Arakawa and published in the monthly magazine Shonen GanGan from 2001 to 2010. And this series has sold over 70 million copies worldwide and there's been like a tv series in 2003 and 2009, the animated series. And the movie was in 2005 and 2011. And [when the] author gave birth to her children, she continued writing hoping that her kids would read it one day.

 Mikey: Exactly, she wanted her kids to read this one day, so that's a really touching story, right?

MC: Yeah. And since the first anime in Japan was produced in January 1917, that's just like 100 years ago.

 Mikey: Wow, the 100th birthday of anime! Wow.

 MC: Yeah, in japan.

 Mikey: I think that deserves an applause, right guys? 100 years. So i think, you know, so i think it's only appropriate that on the hundredth birthday of anime Fullmetal Alchemist gets a live action adaptation, right? Yeah?

 *audience cheeeers*

 MC: Ok so they [FA movie team] got a lot of offers from around the world and so the FA team has come to anime expo!

 *audience cheers*

 MC: Ok that's about it haha for the history.

 Mikey: Alright.

 MC: Alright, so what do you say, do we want to welcome up or - oh no, first we're gonna do the footage, right? Ok so let's take a look at the trailer first of all!

 *audience cheers*

 {the latest trailer released on april 6th is shown to the audience}

 MC: And now let's welcome our special guests!

 *audience goes wild*

 MC: Let's give a round of applause. from the live action cast Ryosuke Yamada

 *fangirls lose their shit as he walks on stage*

 MC: And director Fumihiko Sori!

 *Director Sori comes on stage as the screaming continues*

 MC: A big round of applause for our guests please!

 *audience calms down*

 MC: [to Yamada] Alright so first of all, would you like to say hello to the crowd?

 Yamada: *testing the mic* hah, hah. [He introduced himself in English] Hello everyone, I'm Ryosuke Yamada playing Edo! thank you for coming today. Please enjoy!

 *cheers*

 MC: thank you. and Mr. Sori.

 Sori: [in English] My name is Fumihiko Sori and this movie's director and please enjoy.

 MC: Alright! So, welcome to anime expo

 Sori: hai, thank you

 MC: please be seated. So we're gonna ask you a few questions, first of all welcome to LA and how's it been so far?

 Yamada: *tries to talk into the mic but it doesn't work and makes derp faces*

 *audience chuckles as MC gives his own mic to Yamada*

 Yamada: [Mikey's Translation = MT] Well, it is really warm and everyone's really nice to me so I'm really enjoying my time here.

 Sori: [MT] I love LA! I've been--I lived here about 20 years ago i wanna say.

 MC: So is it any different from 20 years ago?

 Sori: [MT] I don't think it changed that much in 20 years

 MC: Ok, so still the same good ol LA?

 Sori: [in English] It's great, yeah. I love LA!

 MC: So, looking at this huge crowd for you, how do you feel right now? 'Cause for Anime Expo it's the first time to actually have a live cast come on stage, I guess

 Yamada: [MT] I mean, I'm really happy and proud to be Japanese right now, to see the crowd you know. this room is full of fans who love and share japanese anime and content so I'm really happy

 MC: ok. and Mr. Sori can you tell us what led you to create this live action version of this manga that has so many fans?

 Sori: [MT] So as you guys know, a lot of american comics have been adapted in live action formats, and you know and it's really really cool as i see it, watching from where i am. and you know, we have a lot of good content, a lot of good properties and stories in Japan, but we haven't really had the chance to do a live action adaptation at the level and quality i really wanted to, but i feel like finally we're at a point where it's ready.

MC: [to Yamada] So how did you actually feel when you got offered this role?

 Yamada: [MT] So you know, i'm not really tall per se and when i got this offer i was like, 'maybe it is kinda cool being chibi sometimes'

 MC: Ok, during [playing] Ed there must have been so many challenges

 Yamada: so i mean, of course the performance itself is one thing, acting as Ed, but i think the hardest part was Alphonse, you know he's done in full CG so all my acting i have to do kind of not looking at anything really so all the acting really came down to my relationship with Alphonse there.

 MC: Ok so, we would like to just... go on to the footage maybe?

 Mikey: You guys wanna see some footage?

 MC: Ok, and as mentioned before, no cameras please. No phones or otherwise we have to stop, ok. Let's ask Mr. Yamada to cue [the footage].

 Yamada: nihongo de shitsurei shimasu. Kore dewa goran kudasai, dozo. [translation: I'm sorry for the Japanese. Now, here you go, please watch.]

 MC: Let's take a look at the footage!

 *footage rolls. it's like 6 solid minutes and the audience goes through a rollercoaster ride of emotions*

 MC: Alright! [to Yamada, translation:] What did you think of that reaction?

 Yamada: I was really happy to hear you guys' reactions throughout that. We were listening back there.

 MC: so first of all, i understand that filming started in Italy in June 2016 so why did you choose Italy actually.

 Sori: So of course the first work was set in a sort of European city and there wasn't really a specific country but after going through Europe we found that Italy had a lot of really good backgrounds and scenery that we liked for the movie.

 MC: Ok, so Mr. Yamada, what was it like, you're actually acting a role which is not quite Japanese...

 Yamada: [MT] So the original work of course is written by a Japanese mangaka so i really didn't have too much resistance trying to interpret and understand what kind of character we were doing but there was of course fear in the back of my mind as I was acting so i mean, i hope you guys all saw that footage and didn't really feel anything weird, did you?

 *audience cheers, many yell out 'Nooo, you're perfect!!'*

 Yamada: [in english] Thank you!

 MC: And I have a question for Mr. Sori, what was it like actually, for you, working with Mr. Yamada?

 Sori: [MT] Well he is a professional through and through and it made my job really easy to be honest, i didn't have to give him too much direction, he just got what i wanted how i wanted the character to be portrayed and a lot of the action he did himself -- all of the action he did himself, so that made us really really--

 Sori: [in English] No stunt, no stunt!! (Director Sori said this while Mikey was interpreting)

 Sori: [MT] No stuntman here!

 MC: that's amazing!

 Yamada: arigatou gozaimasu

 MC: you got a big one in the face [during the footage, while Ed's running away from the transmuting walls that attack him like giant pillars, he ends up running into one face first]

 Yamada: [MT] That was harder than it looked because i had to react to basically nothing right there

 MC: so how does it feel like, what do you think about it [the footage]? Actually when you looked at it, that footage.

 Yamada: [MT] So when i was acting and portraying the character, i had an idea of what it was going to look like, but seeing it kind of put together with all the edits --it blew my mind and it was way beyond my expectations, i really have to thank the director and all of his awesome skills so thank you very much director.

 MC: And throughout the film.. actually when you were filming the film, your brother isn't actually here but did you feel him here or what was that like?

 Yamada: So while I didn't actually get to see Alphonse in front of me the actor portraying him was next to me acting on his behalf, so as we progressed through production, more and more i started to see him as Alphonse

 *audience awws*

 MC: And Mr. Sori, you've been using a lot of digital technology in this film. Could you tell us about that please?

 Sori: [MT] So I mentioned that I lived in Los Angeles about 20 years ago, i think you guys remember that right? So i was working at a company called Digital Domain and i was actually an animator, a VFX animator there, and i worked on a little movie called Titanic which you might have heard of. And I learned a lot about VFX there so i took a lot of that skill, so my specialty actually lies in the VFX field so i came back to Japan and slowly kind of grew into the role of director and i always thought 'man i wanna take a Japanese IP or Japanese content and turn it into a very VFX heavy production and i think finally i had the chance, and now here we are back in LA 20 years later showing you guys this clip so i'm really really happy and proud to be here.

 Mikey: And one more thing! (Director Sori wanted to add to his previous statement)

 Sori: [MT] but that does not mean this is a VFX only movie and i think you guys, the fans, know that more than anyone, that this is a very story driven, emotional journey. [Sori in English] Yeah, everybody knows, yeah.

 MC: One more question, so when you first met for this film, Mr. Yamada and Mr. Sori, what was the first thing you kind of agreed to focus on in creating this film?

 Yamada: [MT] So I was always a huge fan of Fullmetal Alchemist and when I was offered this role i mean, of course i was really really happy and pleased, and at the same time when we went to Italy and production started, when we were on set and we kind of talked and met each other, i think there wasn't really any doubt in the direction we were gonna take the character and the production. i think it was really a very seamless transition from when we first took it from pre-production to production.

 MC: [translation:] And Director, what about you?

 Sori: [MT] I think it was the best combination ever, even looking back now, looking at all the actors and the talent in the world, i don't think anyone could have portrayed Ed as well as he has so i'm really really glad.

 MC: Ok and now actually, we have a surprise for everyone. We have... the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist...

 *audience starts going wild*

 MC: ...We have a message from her and I'd like to read out the original actually, in Japanese so [to Mikey] can you help me out?

 Mikey: We have a message from the creator and we're going to read it out to you guys right now.

 MC: Ok. [he reads Arakawa-Sensei's message in Japanese]

 Mikey: [Arakawa-sensei’s message interpreted:] So the manga I feel like is my child, I created it, and all these spinoffs and other iterations of it, the anime, the games, everything else that you take, it really feels kinda like my grandchildren, and here they are flying, leaving the nest, exploring, you know i'm really really proud to see them leave the nest like this. And I got to take a look at the footage as well. And it really felt like all these characters i created are there, present in our world. Ryosuke, the way you played Ed was so kakkoi. Everyone out there throughout the world, i hope you take really good care of my grandchild when he goes to see you!

MC: That was a message from Hiromu Arakawa. Ok and now we'd like to give it up to you guys and go into the q&a maybe. You guys have any questions? So if you have a question please raise your hand, okay. You look really ready (some guy in the first few rows was standing with his hand raised)

 Mikey: Are we doing the mic? Are we having them line up or are we gonna run it? Ok, we're gonna line up so please if you have a question line up over here...

 *a ton of people scramble to get to the mic, myself included*

 Mikey: Ok, I don't know if we have that much time guys. Moderators help us out.

 MC: Oh and about the cameras... We were worried about the footage, so yeah you can take photos if you guys want to

 *audience goes crazy*

 Mikey: Let's get started without further ado

 Fan 1: [i know a lot of people here] ...have mixed feelings about this, but maybe 8-10 years down the line, what do you guys think [about an American movie remake]?

 |I missed the complete answer to this one, but the Director was for it|

 Fan 2: How did you come to the conclusion of like where in the manga or anime to finish the movie?

 Sori: [MT] So in my mind I kind of consider this a part one and we have a really good book end to kind of bring closure to the movie as a movie so it can stand alone. But at the same time, if you guys like it and continue to support it, i don't see why there can't be a part two and hopefully beyond.

 Mikey: Thank you very much.

 Fan 3: Ok i have a question to Ed. Will there be a lot of like in the anime, like a lot of when you're fighting with Alphonse, there's a lot of jumping around. Do you think you can do that? Or is it not possible?

 Yamada: [MT] All I can tell you right now is please look forward to the action, there will be a lot of action, not only when i fight against Al, but with him alongside me so I can only tell you to stay tuned and look forward to it.

 Fan 3: Alright, that's cool man! Thank you.

 MC: Thank you.

 Yamada: [in English] Thank you.

 Fan 4: Hi Yamada, hi director. I have a question. So my question is what was the weirdest thing or thing that stood out to you while filming in Italy or during your time here, in LA?

 Yamada: [MT] So this is my first time appearing overseas in front of fans of the movie or of the anime so really your reaction as you saw the footage was kind of a really big pleasant surprise for me. It really made me feel like it was worthwhile playing the part, you know, it was just a pleasure to hear you guys. A lot of times in Japan, people are most embarrassed and shy so they don't openly express that kind of emotion and you know it's just really awesome hearing you guys see that first.

 MC: We're kind of running out of time so we’re gonna have maybe two more questions. We’re very sorry.

Mikey: I'm very sorry guys, two more questions. Yes we're running out of time, unfortunately.

 Fan 4: Ok, so one) I made it. Yes, I'll ask my question real quick. Two) Thank you for the trailer, it was great. Saw a lot of characters that we all know and love, but there was two people I did not see in the trailer. I was wondering if Scar and Armstrong are gonna be in the movie, 'cause I didn't see them.

 Sori: [MT] So I say look forward to seeing them in the movie, but also look forward to part 2.

 MC: So this will be the last question, I'm sorry.

 Fan 5: Hi, Yamada-kun, hi director. I want to ask a question to Yamada-kun. Before the shooting, did you prepare or practice anything for shaping the character of Edo?

 [For the answer to this question, Yamada ran like Ed to show how Ed's running is different from his own and the audience cheered]

 Yamada: [MT] So i think you guys remember the scene where I was running in the beginning, right? So a lot of times when Ed runs, he has a very unique way of running (Mikey not translating anymore:) I'm not gonna do it for you guys (back to translating) It's leaning back and running. And normally when I run, I would run leaning forward like a normal person so I think having the manga on the set and at the production was a large part, and we would always use it as kind of our guidance so we had all the scenes, you know, and obviously getting into costume having it there really really helps. So we wanted to stay true to the manga and that was I guess my technique to building the character.

 Fan 5: arigatou gozaimasu

 | Closing remarks |

 Yamada: [MT] I'm very very happy and honored to be able to have a project like Fullmetal Alchemist that is so loved around the world being produced into a live action adaptation in Japan. So i hope that everyone around the world will be able to see this so thank you very much and yoroshiku.

Sori: [in English] I'm so happy now so please enjoy this movie!

(MC and Mikey end the panel.)